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1968 Training book by James Lamb Free - anyone seen it?

I just scooped up a copy of this book on Ebay ... The index looks interesting ... about how to read a pedigree, the “names to look for” in a dogs pedigree - the Nat’ and Nat’l Am. information and a CHAPTER titled If the LADIES CAN “Do It ” ha ha .... looking forward to the book arriving!

Like many older trainers, I started out on "Training Your Retriever" by James Lamb Free. It was pretty basic, and didn't go very far, but it was one of the best out there back when dinosaurs roamed the earth!

Evan

"Prepare your dog in such a manner that the work he is normally called upon to do under-whelms him, not overwhelms him." ~ Evan Graham“People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”

Looked interesting ... I am particularly looking forward to reading about the “hot” dogs in pedigrees.

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I have the 1977 edition. It is a good book to read. I love the illustrations. I still use the baseball drill. One of the few books and CDs I did not get rid of. Talks about training fundamentals and the pictures demonstrate what he is referring to. As Evan said it is a good book in its time but takes you only so far. Glad you were able to get a copy!Enjoy!

I enjoyed Free's book. I have not read my copy in years and don't recall which edition I have.

After probably 15 years or so, I have 3 takeaways that have stuck with me. Keep in mind, these things have a way of "warping" over time versus the way it is literally written.

Takeaway #1:

Back in those days, Free and his peers did not believe in doing much training during the puppy days. If I recall correctly, Free seemed to be on the extreme edge of this - waiting 'til the dog was a year of so old before doing any real training.

#2:

Free advised against letting kids and others play with your Field dog. He felt that the dog should be kept under lock and key in a kennel run during the day and only handled by you, the trainer. I do get what his angle was, in terms of making the training sessions the highlight of the dog's day and getting full value of the training sessions. But again, I recall the idea that Free was a bit on the extreme end of the application of this.

#3:

Free was the source of the term "stir your stumps". Stir your stumps is the equivlanent of what I sometimes think of as "indirect pressure with poor timing". The idea is that if the dog is blowing the trainer off on a sit whistle, a cast, or some other expected response, the handler is to "stir" or run his legs off getting out there to address the dog at close range.

I don't recall whether it is Free, or not, that mentions e-collars and that they're not good. Some writers of that era certainly wrote this sort of thing. If it is indeed Free, and again, I don't recall, you will have to just remember that at that time, whatever was on the market is a far cry from today's equipment, and the thousands of dogs that the retriever training community used as guinea-pigs to create some established e-collar "best practice" (which is now available) was not yet around.